Work days wrap upStep 1: February 13, (Sat) at 2:00 PM _Completed!
14 future gardeners enjoyed some sun and blue sky and de-littered the area in preparation for grading
Step 2: February 27 & 28 (Sat & Sun) at 2:00 PM -COMPLETED! Goal: Stake the garden layout for all 40 plus beds Bring: Mallets and hammers to pound the stakes & measuring tapes
 36 Volunteers enjoyed sunny skies as the staking of the garden began on Saturday and 25 volunteers completed the 40 garden beds and staked the habitat area!
 March 5th: Keep Houston Beautiful Kickoff rally for the Great American Cleanup downtown at city hall. Activities begin 1:30PM - Press conference 2:30 pm Step 3: March 6th (Sat) 8 AM to 3 PM - COMPLETED!
Over 200 volunteers constructed the beds, pathway and pavilion floor and enjoyed a day of Fun, Food and Friends! Goal: Build all the beds with concrete blocks
Bring: Newspaper and cardboard, as much as possible Bring: Pitchforks, shovels, wheelbarrows, hard tined rakes, soil tampers, 4’ or longer levels Wear: Gloves, hats, old long pants and shirts, closed toe shoes
Step 4: March 10th (Weds) at 9 AM - 6:00PM -COMPLETED
WOW! Another hundred volunteers came together to lay cardboard and mulch the muddy areas; spread hundreds of bags of Scotts organic garden soil and mulch, and plant the habitat area under the direction of the Westbury Garden club. Goal: Working with Scotts products and finishing up the beds and getting set up for the big Scotts celebration at 3:30. Work in the garden; work setting up tables for kids activity areas with the Natl Gardening Assoc.; set up the stage and be camera ready!
Then came the celebration as Mayor Parker, CM CLutterbuck and Noreiga and other friends of the garden joined together. Here is the Channel 2 story link. In celebration of Earth day 2010 there were 2 events in the garden!
On Sunday, April 18th from 1:00 - 6:00 50 volunteers came out to clelebrate Earth Day..1.)We planted the fruit orchard! 2.) Due to overwhelming interest in the garden, we staked and built another 6 beds. 3.) We worked on the compost area. Thursday, April 22nd from 10:00 to 2:00 pm :FOX Sports Houston and the Houston Astros front office as part of the Play Green program celebrated Earth Day with us in the garden. They added the soil and fertilized and planted seeds in the newly built beds. A Foerster 2nd grade class joined them and planted seeds with Houston Astros Play Green Ambassador player, Geoff Blum and boradcasters Jim Deshaies and Patti Smith. All together over 75 volunteers finished those 2 beds, planted in several others;planted 40 blackberry bushes and installed stakes for a trellis system to create a blackberry orchard; and finished builidng the leaf bin and compost area and moved a mountain of leaves. And if that weren't enough: At 11:45 the dedication of the June Holly Leadership Houston Learning Pavilion took place and CM Noreiga read the proclamation from Mayor Parker proclaiming it Leadership Houston Day. June 2010 - Student Conservation Association crew in the garden July 2010 _ Girl Scout Gold award project adds 4 more beds and an informational kiosk | We have a garden! March 6th brought over 200 volunteers together and 32 adult garden beds and 16 youth gardenbeds were constructed. As a part of Keep America Beautiful’s Great American Cleanup, Keep Houston Beautiful was chosen to receive a Scotts Miracle Gro 2010 Give Back to Gro Edible Community Garden Grant and the Westbury Community Garden was the recipient. This was the miracle we needed to make our garden grow!
Lloyd's Register Americas in celebration of its 250th birthday joined the garden with both volunteers and a grant. The Westbury Civic Club provided funding for the water meter and installation. Leadership Houston Class XXVIII chose the garden as its class project. Private donations provided additional funding. We thank all our donors & sponsors who made Phase 1 -the Garden build a success.
An important partner in Phase 1 - the Garden build was Leadership Houston Class XXVIII. This class had chosen the Garden and its Educational component as their class project for 2010. They have been busy fundraising to construct an important feature of the garden..the Learning Pavilion. Not content to limit themselves to just the educational aspect of the Garden, they provided invaluable support during the Build phase. Through their leadership, connections and stewardship donors graded the site; assisted with design; found us a stage for the Give Back to Gro program; found a mountain of mulch; and provided dozens of hard working volunteers for our build days. They have been a source of leadership and guidance and advice and the garden is blessed to have this talented group working on its behalf. Look for them to WOW us with Phase II!
HISD is creating a special curriculum and Foerster Elementary and the other schools in the area will be gardening here. On March 10th we hosted the Great American Cleanup sponsored by Keep America Beautiful and the Scotts Miracle Gro Give Back to Grow Edible Community Garden grant program. Our beautiful garden sign donated by Scotts was unveiled. Activities for children sponsored by the National Gardening Association took place. The Anderson band entertained us along with Mayor Parker and CM Clutterbuck and Noreiga, the Foerster students wowed us with their welcome and poem and theTinsley student chefs served us lemonade and apples. It was just the most incredible day as hundreds of people from the community came together to celebrate.
Do you want to garden? Do you remember how good a home grown tomato tastes? Are you looking for something uplifting and rewarding ? Look no further! Don’t miss out on this chance of a lifetime to be involved in something that is truly amazing.
|
